In World War II, Germany captured 660000 Soviet troops in the Battle of Kiev, why it was criticized as a wrong strategy by later generations.

In World War II, Germany captured 660000 Soviet troops in the Battle of Kiev, why it was criticized as a wrong strategy by later generations.
World War II and even the largest encirclement and annihilation war in human history should be the Battle of Kiev on the Soviet-German battlefield. In this war, 662000 Soviet troops were captured at one fell swoop, which can be regarded as a terrorist record in human history.

World War II and even the largest encirclement and annihilation war in human history should be the Battle of Kyiv on the Soviet-German battlefield. 662000 Soviet troops were captured in this war, which can be called a terrorist record in human history. in this very tragic and eye-popping battle, the Germans achieved great results, almost wiping out the southwestern front army of the Soviet Union. But after this battle, many military scientists and historians believe that Germany should not fight this war. Why are such a huge victory and such a terrible loss regarded as one of Hitler's biggest mistakes and regarded as an "undefeated defeat"? What are the reasons behind this?

obstinacy and intervention

on June 22, 1941, Hitler launched the Barbarossa Project, and millions of elite German troops attacked the Soviet Union. After that, the Soviets suffered great losses, but the Soviets were not completely defeated but became braver and braver. by August 1941, the Soviet army had gradually begun to show signs of counterattack, especially the Soviet Southwest Front Army clinging to Kyiv and controlling Ukraine. This group of nearly 700,000 troops formed a bulge, which was the biggest obstacle to the German offensive on the southern front. At that time, the situation between the two sides was very delicate, and there were two ways in front of Germany. the first is to concentrate efforts on directly seizing Moscow regardless of the heavy army groups in Kyiv on the southern front; the second is to concentrate the strength of the southern army groups to wipe out the heavy army groups in Kyiv. these two options can only be chosen because the force in Kyiv is so large that Germany must mobilize the central army group, so the goal of attacking Moscow cannot be achieved. At this time, there were also two voices within the German army. The first is that the generals represented by Guderian think that they want to go straight to Moscow for the following reasons: Moscow is the transportation hub and political center of the Soviet Union, and it is a foregone conclusion to take Moscow and destroy the Soviet Union, so we should take Moscow. Kyiv's enemies are not important. The second is Hitler himself. Hitler believes that without Kyiv, Ukraine will not be able to take possession, then it will be even more difficult to attack the oil-producing areas of the Soviet Union, as the saying goes: "my generals know nothing about military economics." Under Hitler's determination, the Germans launched a siege of the Soviets. At that time, the Soviets were huddled in the area around Kyiv to protect the Dnieper River from being breached. Once the Dnieper line was breached, Ukraine would be finished, the Soviet granary would be lost, and it would be a problem to eat at that time. At this time, there was also a complete mess within the Soviet Union, and two opinions also emerged at that time. the first opinion is represented by Zhukov, and the core is one word: "withdraw." Zhukov believes that all troops must be withdrawn to the east bank of the Dnieper River as soon as possible and abandon Kyiv. the second opinion is that of Stalin: "cannot be withdrawn." Stalin's reason sounds stronger than that of Zhukov. First, Kyiv is the core of Ukraine, and it would be gone to give up Kyiv. Second, in the previous Battle of Uman, the Soviets chose to retreat under the command of General Bujonni. As a result, 103000 people were captured by the Germans, resulting in heavy losses. Stalin believed that this "escapism" would lead to unprecedented losses for the Soviet army. but what Stalin never dreamed of was that the loss of not running away was greater than running away. under the direct command of Hitler, the German army invaded the core area of Kyiv and divided the more than 700,000 Soviet troops into six pieces. The Soviet Union was instantly cut off. Because the retreat to the east was blocked by Gudri installing armor clusters, the Soviet army approached layers after layers of German troops to the west, the iron walls to the east, and the central army group on the north and south flanks. One is the compression control of the army group of the Southern Group, but most of the Soviet troops were captured after bloody battles, and the entire southwest front army was almost wiped out.

the victory is not thorough enough, the defeat is too disastrous

for this war, there have always been different opinions. Although Germany won an unprecedented victory, for the German army, it postponed the attack on Moscow, and time was Germany's greatest enemy. After all, the severe cold of the Soviet Union was very frightened from Karl XII to Napoleon. Even though the Germans had advanced weapons and equipment, due to the lack of preparation for the winter, many Germans simply did not have winter clothes at the juncture of the battle in Moscow. As a result, the typhoon operation failed and Moscow failed to win. it can be said that the theoretical opportunity to defeat the Soviet Union was lost. so many people evaluate the Battle of Kyiv as a mistake. Fuller, a famous British military theorist (founder of mechanization theory), believes that the Battle of Kyiv is the biggest mistake on the German eastern front. Guderian also believes that the battle in Kyiv is a tactical victory and a strategic defeat. But we have to think about one question: if we don't fight in Kyiv, can we win even if we win Moscow? I am afraid the answer is no. first of all if we did not fight the Battle of Kyiv at that time, the 700000 Soviet troops on the southern front would be a great threat to the German flank. the main force attacking Moscow, that is, the Central Army Group, will not be able to concentrate all its strength to launch a general offensive against Moscow. second, even if Moscow is won, the Soviet Union will continue to resist. the Soviet Union has the rear area of the Ural industrial zone and the reserve force of the far East military region, which is enough to deal with Germany for a long time. Moreover, if Moscow is lost and the railway hub collapses, the Soviet Union is also very reluctant to see the situation, and it is bound to fight to the death. Facts have proved that in the defense war in Moscow, the Soviet army did give full play to its strength, men, and women, old and young, together to defend against Germany. Always determined. third, Germany's manpower and material resources and misestimation of the Soviet Union are the direct causes of the failure. although the Soviet army lost several million troops at the beginning of the war, the speed of its army integration was very fast. In only one month, the Soviet army concentrated 1.25 million troops in Moscow, while before that, Moscow's army was estimated to be less than 1/3 of this number. The Soviet army had only 2.25 million men left at the end of October 1941, but it quickly recovered to more than 4 million after winter, and the huge population of the Soviet Union gave it great war potential. Throughout World War II, the Soviet Union mobilized 30.6 million people, accounting for 16% of the total population, almost all soldiers, which Germany could never do. Hitler's defeat can never be reversed in a battle. If we do not understand this, it will never be possible to understand why the fascists lost.

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